


The Price of Safety

by foxylove51



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 23:17:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10909494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxylove51/pseuds/foxylove51
Summary: The once human dominated world is gone, has been since shit hit the fan and the supernatural creatures of earth decided that living as a secret society was no longer acceptable. Being a mere human surrounded by man-eating creatures makes survival next to impossible. It's accomplished in one of two ways; create a village full of professional hunters, or ally yourselves with a more benevolent species for protection.In the country that use to be the United States, in one village a pact has been made with the werewolves. In exchange for total protection, the young males and females of the village will be gathered, and then a few will be chosen as mates for the young wolves of the pack.





	The Price of Safety

A fairly large group of people had gathered tonight, equal parts excited and nervous. Excited that once the night ended they’d go back to their normal routine. Nervous because for four of us the rest of our lives and our families lives would be different. Tonight was the selection, when four young people from town would be sacrificed to the werewolf pack, as we did every twenty years. About a hundred years ago, the world ruled by humans ended as supernatural creatures of all kinds infested the earth and took over. Clusters of survivors fought every day for their lives, while others, like our clan, created a pact with a group of creatures for protection. History says we had the options between either the werewolves or the vampires in the area. We chose the wolves, as parents weren’t fond of the idea of sending their children to have all the blood drained from their bodies. On the other hand, the wolves offered that four people between eighteen and twenty five be given every twenty years to help diversify the gene pool for their pack. Apparently female wolves were rare, so inbreeding could become a big problem for them. Parents didn’t like this either, but it beat the alternative. Plus the original pact required the sacrificed humans were given food, clothing, shelter, and could not be purposefully harmed. So tonight we waited for the representatives of the pack, the four wolves who desired, or at least accepted, human mates and were coming to select them.

  
All those of age, myself included, stood at the front, lined up single file. We’d already been waiting for an hour, dreading what was about to happen. I stared at the ground, shifting my weight from foot to foot, nervous. My family stood behind me somewhere, close by to say goodbye in case I got picked. I didn’t think I would, being that there were several girls much better than me here, but they thought I’d get taken for sure. They had already started crying earlier, packing a bag for me, along with my bow and a quiver of arrows. My grandfather had made them for me, so if I needed to defend or feed myself I would know how. There had been a dagger as well, but a few years ago my family hit some hard times, and we’d been forced to sell many items. My dagger had been one of the last to go, but since it had been made of silver we sold it too. The bow is also silver, but I refused to give up both, and in the end I hadn’t needed to.

  
Finally, a small group of men walked into the torch light of our village, most of them younger. Only two older wolves had come, and I caught myself staring at one of them. The shorter of the two had pink hair and light blue eyes. The strange man wore a pink button up with a lavender vest and khakis. The second seemed normally dressed, if a bit frumpy, and stood sourly to the side with the younger wolves while the pinkette introduced them all to us.

  
“Hello poppets!” The English accent through me for a loop. I hadn’t known supernatural beings ever moved to different countries to join other packs. “My name is Oliver, and this is my mate, Francis. We’re here to chaperone the selection for this year.”

  
“Nice to meet you Oliver.” The head of the village always sounded strained to greet the wolves during selection, like he just couldn’t believe he had to trade pleasantries with a dog. Though I’m unpopular in my opinion, I am grateful to the pack. They don’t ask much in return for what they give, and the humans they take are guaranteed to not be murdered. Other villages and tribes usually had to sacrifice children with the knowledge that they were about to die. “Let’s go ahead and get this over with.”

  
Oliver’s huge grin wavered a bit, but then he moved on to one of the young wolves. He put a hand on the boy with red brown hair, with one curl sticking out to the side, and violet eyes. Something about him didn’t seem quite right, like being around a blood thirsty animal trying to look harmless. “This is Luciano.” He moved on to the other brunette of the group, taller than the other with blood red eyes. “This is Allen, although he prefers Al.” The next was a blonde, about as tall as Al Even though the sun had already set he wore sunglasses. “This is Matthew.” The last boy there was also blonde, but he looked more like Luciano, even down to having the strange curl, but on the opposite side of his head. “And finally, this is Flavio.”

  
“Hurry up Oliver, we all want to go home.” Francis spoke up, drawling lazily in a thick French accent. Oliver frowned at his mate, but again he perked up quickly.

  
“Alright darling, it is rather late. Okay, Al, go ahead.” Al smirked as he walked toward us, his sharp canines poking out over his bottom lip. His crimson eyes scanned the row and I felt my heart jump into my throat when his eyes stopped on me, considering. But he must have seen something he didn’t like, and he instead stared at the brunette beside me. Her name is Brittany and though I know her, I’ve never spent much time with her. Too bad, she was always really funny and I would have liked to become friends, but Al clearly wanted her. He came up to us and dropped his smirk for a slightly softer grin when he stood in front of her.

  
“Come on doll,” He took her hand and I risked a glance at Brittany. Her eyes were huge, like a frightened doe, and I think she was in shock. Still, she didn’t protest when Al started to pull her away. He stopped though and looked at me instead. “Hmm, you’re a cute one too, but I know Matt’s gonna want you himself. See ya later.” He led Brittany back to the other wolves, Brittany’s family following to say goodbye.

  
“Flavio, you next!” Oliver cheered, grinning over at Al and Brittany. Flavio flipped his scarf back over his shoulder and sighed. Oliver ignored him, turning to introduce himself to Brittany.

  
“Okay-a, you’ll do regazza.” I whipped back around to see Flavio leading a reluctant blonde girl away, ignoring any protests she made. Clearly he didn’t care how she felt, callously tugging her along. Funny, Al looked way scarier, but so far he’d been the nicer wolf. Which was reassuring, since Matthew and Luciano both seemed so scary.  
“Matthew, go.” Francis instructed, since Oliver had moved on to speaking with Flavio’s girl instead of paying any attention to the selection.

  
Matthew lazily strolled over to us, but I could tell he wasn’t scanning through everyone like Al had. He stared straight at me and I looked down, cheeks bright red in embarrassment. Two hiking boots appeared in my line of vision and I flinched when he brought his hand to my chin. However, he only lifted my head, gently, to look into his face. “Come on Chickadee.” His voice was smooth with an accent I had never heard before, but I liked it. Just like Al, he took my hand and led me back to the others. Only my mother and older brother came with me tonight. I barely felt mom slip my bag over my shoulder and kiss my forehead, telling me she loved me. My big brother had the hand Matthew didn’t, saying how much he’d miss me and to look out for myself. Then, the idiot looked up at Matthew and actually glared.

  
Matthew held his poker face, except for a small twitch at the corner of his mouth. Luciano came back with a red head who cussed like a sailor, trying to dig her heels into the mud. Her name is Deanna, and I had never liked her very much. She always thought she was too good for everyone here, and apparently the werewolves too. I turned away and caught Brittany’s eyes. She rolled them and huffed in exasperation and I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing loudly. “What’s so funny?” Matthew asked, pulling my attention from the brunette girl.

  
“Nothing.” I sobered up quickly, worried if I had made him angry. I tensed up and bit my bottom lip nervously.

  
“Calm down and breathe chickadee.” Matthew chuckled. “I promise it’s not that bad.”

  
“Well hello to you dearie.” I jumped and faced Oliver, who’d moved directly in front of me. “And what is your name?”

  
“Hayley Jennings.” So my boots like really nice right now, and much less intimidating than the inhumanly blue eyes watching me right now. A shiver crept up my spine from discomfort, practically feeling his eyes burn into my skin. I hated when people stared at me, it made me wonder what was wrong with me. Did I have something on my face? Were my clothes messed up? My hair? Maybe they hated my pale skin, or that I was a bit chunkier than the stick thin girls the other had picked. Could it be because I stood awkwardly, hunched in to hopefully hide part of myself?

  
Pale fingers gently pushed up on my chin, making me look up at Oliver. Apparently Matthew and Francis had looked over at us too, specifically me, because they were both frowning. Matthew might be reconsidering picking me, he could still trade if he found something about me he didn’t like. It has happened before. “Poppet?” Without realizing my gaze had drifted away from Oliver while I thought, so I refocused on the blonde. “You look a bit flushed dear, do you need to sit down for a minute?” I shook my head and he smiled again. “Alright then, we’ll be leaving now.”

  
He stepped away and transformed, soon followed by Francis. The older wolves walked into the woods, leaving us alone with our soon to be ‘mates’. “Chickadee, I’m carrying you on my back. Hold on and tell me if you need to stop.” Once I nodded he shifted too. His fur coat matched his bright blonde hair and his eyes stayed the same beautiful shade of purple. But he was a large wolf, even bigger than the two older ones. His shoulder blades were to my head, which meant he had to crouch for me to get on. Luckily I’ve had experience with horse riding, so throwing a leg over wasn’t hard. The girl Luciano picked, Deanna, wasn’t even trying, just glaring at him. The blond with Flavio did attempt, but she wasn’t getting anywhere since she couldn’t get her leg high enough to get over Flavio’s body, even though they were smaller than Matthew or Al. Al was every bit as big as Matthew, but Brittany had got on okay. I hadn’t watched to know for sure, but I believe Al had been close to the stump, a couple feet away from the group, to make everything easier.

  
We seemed to be waiting on the other two, and I felt a little bad that the blond girl, whose name I didn’t know, couldn’t do it. So I climbed down and walked over. Flavio growled a little, but he immediately quit when Matthew barked at him. I just took a knee beside him and let blondie use my leg to stand so she could get on. She did fine with the boost and turned to give me a little smile. “Thanks, I thought I’d never get up here!”

  
“You’re welcome.” I left and climbed back on Matthew, who wagged his tail at me, so I don’t think he got upset that he had to let me on twice. Deanna still hadn’t moved, pouting like a child while the rest of us waited. Al moved over to us with Brittany still on his back, both looking a bit irritated.

  
“Oh my god, can she please stop acting like a spoiled brat yet?” Brittany griped quietly.

  
“She’s not acting like a spoiled brat, she is a spoiled brat.” I joked, keeping my voice low too. Matt and Al snickered at us, clearly finding her behavior as awful as we did. Francis and Oliver thought we were taking too long, as they had come back. Once they saw the problem Francis seemed to get angry as he growled and stalked over to Deanna. Luciano snapped at Francis as the blonde wolf grabbed Deanna by the back of her shirt and began carrying her back to Oliver. The other blondish wolf just snickered and followed his mate as Deanna fought against Francis without success.

  
I gasped when Matt jerked forward, grabbing a fistful of fur to hang on. His stride was steady though, and we didn’t go very fast so I relaxed my grip. “Sorry.” He flicked his ears back and yipped. Al kept to Matt’s left, while Luciano and Flavio were behind them. Brittany looked over at me with a smile and I returned the gesture. What can I say, we’re getting to ride on the backs of werewolves, which is really cool. We’re also going to a remote werewolf village that nobody currently in our home village had ever been to, and didn’t know anything about, except that it would be our new home.


End file.
